The injustice appeared on Ray Ellis’ feet as he prepared to take the field with his Ohio State teammates for the 1980 Fiesta Bowl against Penn State.

Ellis, the Buckeyes’ starting right cornerback, wanted to wear the Converse cleats he preferred for grass fields, but the team was told it had to wear Nikes, which Ellis only wore on synthetic surfaces.

“That (contractual) deal had to do with something other than football,” Ellis said. “It didn’t benefit me, but put me at a disadvantage. I would never want a player to be compromised.”

Ellis already was scratching his head over the seeming contradiction he had witnessed throughout bowl week. While Ohio State coaches and athletic department administrators enjoyed Arizona with their families, Ellis’ loved ones were left behind in Canton.

“For us, it was sad, and I recall thinking at the time it was a little unfair,” said Ellis, who is one of more than a dozen plaintiffs listed in a lawsuit, Ed O’Bannon vs. NCAA, that seeks to grant former, current and future college athletes (O’Bannon played basketball at UCLA) financial compensation for the use of their likenesses on television and video games.

“That’s when I began thinking about the business model of it,” Ellis said yesterday from his home near Phoenix, where he is sports channel director for web-based VoiceAmerica radio. “That was my first time thinking about revenue and how it was dispersed.”

It would not be his last. As the years rolled by, Ellis saw his likeness — a player wearing his No. 27 for the 1979 team — on a video game published by Electronic Arts.

“My brother-in-law asked if I was being compensated,” Ellis said.

He wasn’t. Later, a friend asked Ellis if he had been watching ESPN Classic when the network replayed the 1980 Rose Bowl game between Ohio State and Southern California.

“I thought about it and decided it wasn’t right … so I thought I needed to say something and become an advocate for former players and future players and current players,” he said.

Ellis considers himself more a fan than an activist.

“There’s not a more committed fan of Ohio State than Ray Ellis,” he said.

But Ellis also was the consummate team player in college and the NFL. As one of three captains on the 1980 OSU team, he aimed to represent and protect players, an attitude that carries into today. So if it takes joining a lawsuit to get results — even if, as some warn, the lawsuit could bring down the NCAA and turn college athletics either into semipro leagues or something resembling nonscholarship Division III — then so be it.

“Some people think the college athlete gets everything he should get,” Ellis said. “And I am very appreciative of the chance I had to get an education (via scholarship). But the reality is you get what you negotiate, and how do you do that if you don’t have a seat at the table?”

The lawsuit could provide that chair. On Thursday, Judge Claudia Wilken did not rule on the case in California, pushing a preliminary decision into late summer or fall. The ruling — other plaintiffs include Oscar Robertson and Bill Russell — could reach into the billions of dollars.

The core of Ellis’ complaint is that college athletes are being taken advantage of, at least relative to the financial gains being made by coaches and administrators. Essentially, those wearing uniforms benefit at a much slower rate than those wearing suits.

“What we’re interested in is change,” Ellis said.

But how to achieve it? In a delicious twist, Ellis might never have added his name to the lawsuit if not for a 2009 conversation with Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith, whose views concerning the lawsuit run counter to his own.

“Gene Smith said something that stuck with me, something I took to heart,” Ellis said. “He said there was a systematic way to go about change. Soon after, I was made aware of the lawsuit and thought about his words. If I wanted to contribute, or I wasn’t pleased, or saw injustice, this (lawsuit) was a way to participate.”

So Ellis is taking the systematic approach. Keep your eye on this one. It’s a potential firestorm.